Seamless knit ambidextrous glove and method of making the same



May 18, 1948. A., c. ACKERMAN 2,441,611

SEAMLESS KNIT AMBIDEXTROUS ,GLOVE AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Filed June 7, 1945 2 Shets-Sheet 1 /6' f0 ooooooooooooW .I/ I7 9 INVENTOR.

I770RNEY May 18,1948.

A. C. ACKERM'AN SEAMLESS KNIT AMBIDEXTROUS GLOVE AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Filed June 7, 1945 2 Sh'eets-Sheet 2 IN V EN TOR.

W lifromvzy Patented May 18, 1948 SEAMBESS KNIT AMBIDEXTR0US GLOVE ANDEMETHOB'ZOF MAKING THE SAME Thea invention described: herein: if patented;

maymanufactured ian'drs used :by or: "for :the

Government-afor-agovernmental purposes, "withouttheiapayment to =meotany royalty thereon;

invention; relatesatotaseamless :knit ambidextrous .sglowesparti'cularly 'designedJIas; an insertor liner for an'aoutenleatheifglove;

A specific object ofiimy :inventiomis' t0:p1i0vide:

knittedrglove whiclri-mayl :be needles; a liner if or an .outenleather glovershellsor which' mayqbe-used independently as aitglove itself; and :whiche is seamless msmoo-th fitting; and; comfortable; and.

whichi :fitsteithei': hand; withi 'equalivfacility;

An iobjecti ofrmy: inventionxis ptolprovideran; bidextrous glovey the bodyof whichema'yabe knit upon amor dina'ry circulau'rknittinggmachine;:lmitev ting from the- -wristzup without iexpensive modis: fleati'onsiof the-machine: l

Itt:is:-a further. object of :my 'invention to provide a :knittedi 'glover which isvsimpleg durable,-. and in= expensive :imconsttuction as well": asconvenient, serviceable; and efficientinuse:

The glove'is ofia seamless:knitr pattern of arm bidextrousi designiiwhicmwillafit:'t onaceither th and withi'equalsfacility' and due-to :its particular shape andiconstructionpwill properlyfitleithenhand'ias contrasteditopriorr art-ambidextrous gloves. which either; lnrthespast ithasi been wellknown toluseso+cailedrambidextrous=gloves l Th'ese were usua llysotileather or non-elastic fabric and? were not suc'c'essfuirnorcommercially 1 useful because they were smrbulksome and uncomfortablei'as'to'rb'e-iof n'olw'aluer The z advantages of an: ambidextrous glove aie obvious- It? avoids-econfusiom: andv permits the. weareritosuput:either-glove: oneeither :han'dtzwithout fumbling and without identificatiom-which is particularlyadvantageous for military operations under blackout conditions. It simplifies the problem of supply sand -permits read-y replacement of: a missingmgloueiwithout-rendering the remaining glove useless, It prolongsetheeuseful life-0t the glove, as wear is evenly distributed over both sides of the gloverathen than concentrated on one face: as in conventionalsgloves. My glovesis warmgiormfitting and seamless-and fitseso-z-comfortably on eitherhandwithoutundue stretching or slack that until "the user 'b'e'c'omes thoroughly famiiianswith the gloves;hesiskdisinclined:toxbe lieve th'authe glove canpossiblyefit on thezother hand beca-use it..fitsnsohwellsonithe ones. Biy-the specific-knitting, wpattermof my:'inventiongwresults arersecure'd whichmhav.e b,een:long desiredi and soughtibutwhich have been considered by experts ll'iitheifi61117176baunobtainablefi.

Witlnrtheaforegoingrandsiother:objectsziniNiew which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention resides in the construction as hereinbefore described and claimed; it being undertion: For" a completede'scription of: the inventi'o'n"; a -detailed description thereof willnow be given inconnectionwith the drawings 1 forming a part-0f this specification- Figur'e 1 is an-edge view-of-part of a-glove showing thesymmetrical character of the design;

Figure-2 .is a face View of a partially knit'g10Ve showing-the first finger-inplace; and the pull string-fertileinsertion-ofithethumb';

Figure is a detail of the knit construction showing the location of a-pull string :for the in:- sertion ofthe thumb FigureA is a: diagrammatic sketch showin the pickerl- -up stitches for the-insertion of the thumb? Figure-5 is a iron-t elevationalview of an 3111-- bid'extrous glove in accordance with 'my invention; and

Figure fi is an enlarged detailed perspective view of'a' part of the glove illustrated in the preceding figure, showing structural details of the "juncture between palm and fingers;

The cuff i and-hand are knitted on a circular gloove knitting machine starting at thewrist with the rib construction desired forthe cuff; changing to a plain stitch for the palm and k'nitting up to the lever of the'---base of -the-- thumb; An opening for the thumb is 'providedby stitching in a' fals'e*thread I" an equal "distance oneach side" of 3 the-center line so that the thumb when inserted will have the center of the thumb in--1ine withthe edge'of "thehandi This maybe done by hand? The knittingis then continuedto the-base tenths-fingers, The glove blank-is then taken oif thea circular knitting 'machine.

The-fingers are-not overlapped but are knit co -perfectly "straight one; conventional flat b'ed knittingmachine such as "the-'Lambfiatbed' knitting machine which utilizes parallel rowsof needles and whi-ch' was'thesubject-matter of U. S.-

finger: The'finger-is thenknitted :to'the' required length. t Figure "2shows thezfirst' finger stitched on, ,and loops for the; picking on ofithel other. fingers.

The first stitch for the second finger is picked on to the fourth needle on each side and the balance of the stitches picked on straight across. The three empty needles on each side are picked up the side of the first finger, in the last knitted wale, so as'to join the first and second fingers together at 8 (see Fig. 6) and avoid leaving a gap between the fingers. The same procedure is followed for the other two fingers.

The thumb is stitched in by pulling the inserted thread and picking all of the open stitches 9 onto a knitting machine, a conventional fiat bed machine being suitable. Eight additional needles H), H, l2, I3, I 8, l5, l6, and H are set into wales 4 tional needles may be picked to give greater fullness through the finger portion.

I claim: I v '1. A method of knitting gloves comprising knitting from'the wrist portion upwards,inserting a loose thread between portions of two adjacent of palm A adjacent that portion of the courses opened up by withdrawal of thread I (see Figs. 3 and 4). Thus, where the stitches 9, opened up by withdrawal of thread i number twelve in each course, thirty-two needles are employed: Twelve needles in the open stitches of the upper course, twelve in the open stitches of the lower course, and eight in the wales adjacent the open portion adjacent either end of the open portions thus formed. By using sufficient needles so that two needles are left extra on all four sides for closing of the corners and picking these extra stitches from the wales next to the opening on each of the corners, the thumb is inserted with no openings or gaps, as indicated in Figure 4. The thumb is then knitted several courses, narrowed one or more needles on each side and then knitted straight to the specified length.

An edge view of the thumb after insertion is shown at Figure 1. The whole glove is absolutely symmetrical, the two faces being mirror images of each other. It is essential that the symmetry be preserved for proper ambidextrous character-v istics. The narrowing of the thumb, at 2 and 3, ensures a proper fit around the thumb, yet leaves sufficient slack so that the thumb is free, and does not cause objectionable looseness.

The ends of the fingers and thumbs may be closed by stitching the loose ends together by hand, using the loose ends of the yarn as a drawstring through the loops, with wooden pegs as darning guides.

By narrowing the thumb near its base on both sides .and using a knit construction, the resiliency of the knitting is sufiicient to prevent tautness or slack at the base of the thumb on either side.

For a specific example, an excellent knitted glove for Army use may be made by using a threeply wool yarn for the cuff and a two-ply yarn for the hand and fingers. A medium size glove may be knitted by using 7 6 needles on a 4 inch diameter cylinder machine, 32 needles for the thumb, 24 needles for the first, second and third fingers, and 22 needles for the little finger. The number of needles and the size of the yarn may, of course, be varied depending upon the fineness of the yarn and the weight of the glove desired.

For this size glove, 12 stitches are left open at the thumb, as shown in the enlarged detail drawing, Figure 3. The extra stitches at the ends, four at each, then account for the 32 needles. When about 10 courses have been knitted, one needle is dropped at each end of each, leaving 28 needles for the remainder of the thumb.

The number of needles and ply of yarn is given as an example only. The number of needles and ply can be varied over wide limits, to give the weight of finished glove desired. Where a very fine gage knit is desired, the fingers may be knitted with a small slot in the side to which addicourses where the thumb is desired, while completing the knitting of the palm and back, removing the loose thread, and setting up the loosened loops of said portions on needles, setting additional needles at each end of each portion into adjacent wales, knitting several courses, narrowing both ends of each row of needles, then completing the knittin of the thumb.

2. A seamless knit glove of ambidextrous pattern, comprising a palm, said palm having a thumb opening extending through a plurality of wales in a portion of two adjacent courses, and a thumb having at its base a plurality of wales in excess of the number of said first-mentioned wales, said thumb being uniformly narrowed on both faces at a point slightly above its line of attachment to the palm :of the glove.

3. In a method of knitting gloves, the steps of knitting a wrist portion, then the palm portion to the level of the thumb, knitting in a draw thread between portionsv of courses in said palm, completing the palm, withdrawing the draw thread, setting up the loosened loops on needles, setting additional needles at each end of each row into additional wales adjacent the loosened loops, then completing the knitting of the thumb.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the fingers are knitted by setting up loose loops on needles, separately for each finger, using additional needles at the side of each finger adjacent an already knitted finger to knit additional wales, whereby gaps in the finger crotch are prevented.

5. An ambidextrous seamless knit glove comprising apalm, said palm having a thumb opening extendin through a plurality of wales in a portion of two adjacent courses, and a thumb having at its base a plurality of wales in excess of the number of said first-mentioned wales.

6. A seamless knit glove of ambidextrous pattern comprising a palm having two symmetrical faces, said palm having a thumb opening between a portion of two adjacent courses in said palm, and a thumb portion having at its base a plu-' rality of wales exceeding the number of open stitches in said open portions of said palm, said thumb portion being narrowed at a point slightly above said base.

ALBERT C. ACKERMAN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Great Britain Dec. 23, 1941 

